Foam boards are used in the manufacturing of residential and commercial construction materials. Exemplary applications include exterior trim components, such as door trim and window trim. These types of foam board products typically are finished to have the ornamental quality of lumber, and can be cut to size for specific applications.
Polyvinylchloride (PVC) foam boards with cellular structure are one type of foam board. Individual PVC foam boards are cut from large sheets of foam material. The large sheets are formed in an extruding process and have a smooth outer surface in which the cellular structure of the foam is not apparent. When the large sheets are cut to produce the foam boards, the resulting cut edges of the boards have exposed cellular structure. As a result, the cut edges of the boards are visually different from the top and bottom faces of the boards. The cut edges also collect dirt more readily than the top and bottom faces of the boards.
To minimize these and other effects of foam board cutting, all sides of a board may be painted to seal the edges and negate differences between the cut edges and the top and bottom faces. However, painting adds cost and time to foam board manufacturing or to on-site construction.